Updates: Yunesky Maya, Jordan Zimmermann, Jason Marquis

The quick and dirty: Yunesky Maya should make his major league debut before August ends, Jordan Zimmermann will take it slow and make at least four more starts before returning to the Nationals and Jason Marquis could make his next start in the majors.

For the details, here are reports from Nationals pitching coordinator Spin Williams.

Yuneksy Maya: The 28-year-old Cuban right-hander, while finishing off the necessary steps to get a work visa and moving from the Dominican Republic, has not thrown a baseball for two weeks. "We're kind of getting him started back up," Williams said.

Maya's progression will include two bullpen sessions and a simulated game before his first live action. Williams has Maya scheduled to start Aug. 13 in a Gulf Coast League game, which will leave Maya plenty of time to reach the major leagues this year. Maya should be able to throw five innings in the minors by either Aug. 23 or Aug. 24, which would allow a late-August debut.

"Oh, yeah," Williams said. "He'll be ready by the end of August. The thing is trying to get him going as quickly as we can while still being careful with him. We're interest in the player's longevity. My job is to make sure he gets ready to go and we don't rush him too fast."

While Williams has yet to see Maya pitch, he likes what he's heard from acquaintances in other organizations about his "pitchability." Maya throws five different pitches and hurls from two different arm angles. He also relies on his knack for reading swings and understanding a hitter's though process.

"I'm exited to see him pitch," Williams said.

Jordan Zimmermann: The Nationals are still thrilled with Zimmermann's recovery from Tommy John surgery, but by their policies they will slow him down and then build his workload up all over again at Class AAA Syracuse.

Zimmermann will make at least four starts at Syracuse, where he just arrived Sunday, Williams said. When Zimmermann jumped the level, it mean the Nationals would almost reset him. He will throw three innings in his first Class AAA start, then four innings, then five innings.

Zimmermann will then throw five innings once more at Syracuse. If his velocity stays constant from the previous start, he'll be deemed ready. If his velocity dips, the Nationals will restart the Class AAA process -- three innings, four innings, five innings, five innings.

Regardless of how Zimmermann completes the final phase, the Nationals will limit him to five innings per start in the majors for the final month or so of the season.

"The bottom line on the deal is, if he re-injures the elbow, he might be done for the rest of his life," Williams said. "We're going to pull him back down, build him back up. This guy is part of our future. We want to make sure we do that right thing."

Jason Marquis: The timing of Marquis's major league return, at this point, will be decided by General Manager Mike Rizzo and only Rizzo. Marquis threw about 90 pitches in six innings Monday night and "threw the ball extremely well," Williams said.

The only question is how and when the Nationals want to fit him into the rotation. They could start him again at Class AAA or in the majors, but "he's ready" now, Williams said.

Buster Olney said the Nats placed Dunn on waivers. What does this mean? I understand the whole waivers process, but why would the Nats place him on waivers unless they want to trade him... And if they want to trade him, why didn't they just do it?

A mix of farm work (JZimm), modest FA signing (Marquis) and good international work (Maya) combined with Stras and pick between wang, detwiler, lannan, livo, chico, martin, etc as 5th starter and the 2011 starting rotation suddenly looks a helluva lot better.

Re-sign Dunn, add some depth/bat in RF, get ramos mentored by Pudge and this might be a decent team.

I will be interested to see what kind of attention the Rizz-O gets for GM of the year - pretty impressive in such a short time span and many better days are ahead.

If I were Rizzo, I'd put Dunn on waivers just to give Buster Olney a chance to make a hysterical idiot out of himself.

This happens all the time after the trade deadline. It doesn't necessarily mean anything at all; the Nats could have put a bunch of players on waivers to see if anyone bites or to cover up one player that they really do want to get through waivers.

Joebleaux is absolutely correct. You can put about 5 or 6 (don't remember exact number) on waivers to see who bites. They can be withdrawn, immediately. I'd guess that Kennedy, AG, Morse, Nieves, Harris, maybe even Hammer were among those put on wavers.

About the only real contender would be the White Sox, because the Nats would love to have Gordon Beckham. However, they just brought in this kid, Viciedo, who looks like he can provide all the punch they need, so they won't give up much for Dunn, which eliminates Beckham.

Znn is a lock if healthy. Det/Maya need starts to see what they do. Marquis is the big money guy who you think would get some starts. Olsen should get starts to see if he's truly back and can be a part of the '11 rotation. And Livo has been the best pitcher.

Six real starters who need work and then excludes Lannan/Stammen and others like Atilano/Martis would probably be called up if this was 2009.

@hoo93. Absolutely a possibility. Stras should be stretched out, and that would help. Also, don't be surprised if they try Atilano and/or Stammen in relief. Both seem to do much better the first time through.

If Dunn clears waivers, I guess we would have to wait until after August 31st (Deadline to be eligible for the post-season roster) to see if he gets traded and, if not, I am guessing the two sides will work towards an extension?

Buster Olney said the Nats placed Dunn on waivers. What does this mean? I understand the whole waivers process, but why would the Nats place him on waivers unless they want to trade him... And if they want to trade him, why didn't they just do it?

I hate to say this, given the way he's pitching and all of the justified love he's receiving for it, but I think Livan will get traded before Sept. 1. With Marquis, J. Zimm and Maya all probably on the way, Strasburg probably coming back, and Lannan, Detwiler and Olsen back in the bigs, a lot of people need to pitch in the rotation to show what they can do. All of these guys have a role in the Nats' future and it's not clear that Livan, at his age, does. I think he'll go in a waiver deal on Aug. 30 or 31.

They should have moved Lvio for whatever they could get pre 7/31. Now he's subject to waiver claim so it is not like the Nats can take the best deal for him from the entire league, only the claiming team negotiates now. Questionable move by Rizzo to have held on to him with several guys coming back, the add of Maya and the club being way out of it. They could have filled the starts with someone.

Everybody goes thru waivers. This is just standard operating procedure. It is still possible to trade Dunn, but very unlikely. There is no way Dunn is going to clear waivers, so if he's traded it would be with the team that claims him. The NL gets first crack, going from worst team to best. The Rockies could claim him to prevent the Giants from getting him, but I doubt the Rockies will give up what it would take to get him, or else they would have done it last week. So Rizzo would then pull Dunn off waivers, at what point he can't go back, so the whole ordeal is over.

It's much more likely that Kennedy or Harris or someone like that gets dealt. I believe Belliard was traded in August last year.

So everyone breath easy. Putting Dunn on waivers is no big deal. Just covering all the bases.

Detwiler is going to have trouble making the rotation next year (Strasburg, Zimm, Marquis, Maya, Olsen/Detwiler/FA). What I think would be kinda nice is to stick Detwiler in the bullpen with Clippard and Storen if he ends up being the odd man out.

Dunn won't make it through waivers, he is only owed $3mil for the rest of the season. The only question is if he will make it to the Giants or White Sox or whomever wants him, or if another team will put in a claim to block them first, I'm looking at you Dodgers and Rockies or Red Sox.

But the question is, why now? What changed since the deadline that some team feels they are willing to give up more to get Dunn now?

Regarding Livo, I'd agree with you if the discussion were who amongst the many pitchers we wanted under long-term contracts, but this guy has saved our season from outright disaster and has been downright good, so I don't understand the desire from you and many others to be rid of him post haste. He's reported to have gotten himself in better shape over the last winter than he had in the past and he's got a pitching style that is not nearly as susceptable as a flame thrower would be to rapid decline because of aging (translation, he's more guile and placement than "stuff"). I'd extend him through next year and if he doesn't make the cut in spring training, consider the salary well-earned compensation from this year given that he was a spring training invitee signed to a minor league deal. It's nice to have a lot of potential in the pipeline, but I wouldn't cast away the solid thing we have now just because everything might be great for others next year.

As bad as it would be to the fan base to have seen Dunn traded, I think it send a worse message if Livo was sent away. He loves it here and has performed amazing despite getting signed as an afterthought. I hope he stays here until his arm falls off, which may not be for 10 years.

My 2011 rotation; Olsen,"The Kid",JZimm,Livo,Martis, and trade some of the surplus pitching for bench depth and prospects and by the way anyone supporting the release or trade of Livo knows nothing about the game or clubhouse chemistry.

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